1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a merchandise sales data processing apparatus.
2. Discussion of the Background
Hitherto, some retail shops such as supermarkets and drugstores promote sales by affixing stamps of the number according to a sales amount on a card.
In some cases, a stamp affixed on a card is used as electronic information. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 5(1993)-250385 discloses a technique of converting provided stamps of the number according to a transaction amount into electronic information and storing the electronic information onto a storing medium such as a magnetic card or an IC card.
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-132430 discloses a technique of printing a discount ticket (coupon) or adding points to a customer having a specific attribute.
In the case of using, for example, an ECR (Electric Cash Register) as the merchandise sales data processing apparatus, to apply a technique as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 5(1993)-250385, hardware such as a magnetic card reader/writer or an IC card reader/writer for storing a stamp in the form of electronic information onto a storing medium such as a magnetic card or an IC card is necessary. An ECR having the hardware such as an IC card reader/writer is generally a sophisticated machine.
In contrast, under the present circumstances, a merchandise sales data processing apparatus (for example, an ECR) as a popular machine capable of executing a merchandise sales data process which is a minimum process required does not have hardware such as a magnetic card reader/writer or an IC card reader/writer. Therefore, it is difficult to apply the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 5-250385 to the popular machine.